Giacomo Baraldo, a new star from southern Tuscany
Website: https://www.giacomobaraldo.it/
Giacomo fell in love with wine and went and gained experience around the world, including stints at Greystone in New Zealand’s Waipara region, and de Montille in Burgundy. He then came back to his family property (12.5 hectares with 4.5 hectares of vines) in the south of Tuscany, to make his own wines. This was back in 2016. Since then he’s also recovered some old vineyards nearby, and planted some new vineyards, and works on a parcel approach. These wines are really interesting, including the first vineyard-fermented wine in Europe. This is something that Dom Maxwell at Greystone has been doing for a while: the idea is that by fermenting the wine in the vine rows, the fermentation is carried out by vineyard-resident yeasts. It’s also quite a fun thing to do.
THE WINES
Giacomo Baraldo Risveglio Blanco 2022 Toscana, Italy
12.5% alcohol. Trebbiano and Malvasia. Beautiful aromatics with a chalky edge to the lemon and lime fruit nose with a hint of grape and apricot richness right in the background. The palate is precise and linear with a slight salinity, some more chalky character, and bright but well-integrated acidity. Very fine and pure with great precision. Give this a little time after opening: it’s not fancy high-end but it’s really, really good. 94/100
Giacomo Baraldo L’Affacciatoio Chardonnay 2021 Toscana, Italy
12.5% alcohol. Young vines (2019) on clay/limestone soils, SW facing at 600 m. This is a bright, focused Chardonnay with a stony edge to the lemon, pear and green apple fruit. It’s stony and mineral with a nice tension to the fruit, showing keen citrus fruit with a finely grained twist. So interesting, and quite Chablis-like. 94/100
Giacomo Baraldo Il Pergola Bianco 2020 Toscana, Italy
13.5% alcohol. Young vine Grechetto that spends 30 days on skins with 20% botrytis. 997 bottles and 30 magnums made. Full gold/amber colour. Wonderfully perfumed with hints of ginger and ripe apricot and pear fruit, as well as some white pepper. In the mouth this is fruity and bright but also with nice structure, showing aniseed, cherry, pear and lemon fruit. There’s even some green tea here. Such a complex and beautifully balanced wine with well integrated tannins and acidity. Really fine. 95/100
Giacomo Baraldo Caccialupi Sangiovese 2020 Toscana, Italy
13% alcohol. Sangiovese with a bit of Canaiolo, on red clay soils with high limestone content. Planted 1971, facing E at 550 m. 10% whole bunch, aged in barrels and tonneaux. This has really appealing aromatics of red cherries and berries with some white pepper and a slight dustiness. Dried herbs complement the liqueur-like fruit richness. The palate is supple and beautifully balanced with elegant red fruits and some fine spices. There’s a bit of dry tannin and it supports the fruit really well. This wine shows elegance and drinkability with a sense of finesse. 93/100
Giacomo Baraldo Il Bossolo Sangiovese 2020 Toscana, Italy
13% alcohol. Sangiovese planted in 2009 facing NW at 515 m. Lots of limestone in the clay soils. 20% whole-bunch fermented in the vineyard. 18 months ageing in small oak and tonneaux. Warm, supple and textured with wild strawberry and some fine herb and dried rose petal notes as well as elegant, finely grained tannins and sweet but also savoury fruit. Textural and really elegant in a mid-weight drinkable style with more than a touch of complexity. Grainy finish with some dryness. 93/100
Giacomo Baraldo 0.0 k Vineyard Ferment Sangiovese 2020 Toscana, Italy
12.5% alcohol. Sangiovese planted in clay/limestone soils at 515 m, facing NW, in 2009. This wine is fermented in the vineyard with one-third whole bunches, then aged for 18 months in barrique and tonneaux. 857 bottles and 24 magnums made. This is a beautifully expressive Sangiovese with a stony, mineral edge to the focused cherry and berry fruits. It’s fine and expressive with some plum and redcurrant notes, as well as Mediterranean herb characters on the finish. Perfumed but also savoury, this is beautifully balanced with drinkability, but also the structure to suggest it might age well over the medium term. And past that, who knows? A lovely expression of a place. 94/100
